Colin Crouch "If work becomes gig" Il Mulino Bologna 2019 pagg. 185 and 13,00
That the job market in contemporary society, especially in the first two decades of this century, has undergone unprecedented transformations also due to the growing impact of digital technology it is now peacefully established. But much less uniformity of opinion is found, however, on the aspects related to this transformation in terms of breadth of protected rights of workers, improvement of their quality of life, representativeness and significance of trade union organisations, etc. Thus, on the one hand, there are neoliberal-inspired scholars convinced in placing the accent on the positive characteristics of these changes; on the other hand there are those who do not miss the opportunity to demonstrate the negative consequences linked to the retreat and restriction in the protection of workers' rights.
Therefore it could not fail to be welcomed except with particular interest Colin Crouch's latest essay, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, for years dedicated to studying the capitalist economy in its various aspects, and who this time focuses with the usual depth and originality of thought on one of the new forms of organization of the digital economy, the so-called gig economy, the economy of jobs. Not to be confused with the "sharing economy", which involves sharing underutilized resources, the "gig economy" hinges on real work organized by a digital platform through the professional services of freelancers. A book, therefore, in which to find, if not definitive answers, valid contributions for reflection on the questions mentioned above.
As on other occasions, this book by Crouch also opens with a reference to a news story that took place in the south of England a couple of years ago: the death of a courier who worked for a logistics firmca, death which occurred due to the worsening of the diabetes from which he suffered. A worsening - it was later ascertained - due to having neglected to undergo the usual periodic hospital checks, not for personal negligence, but for fear of incurring other sanctions. As had happened some time before with a fine of 150 pounds, imposed by the company for not having carried out all the scheduled deliveries, having occupied part of the working day in carrying out the aforementioned hospital checks.
In the wake of the growing popular indignation for the details of this tragic event, it was thus ignited (and not only in England) a debate on the different forms of precariousness in the world of work, which is still involving exponents of the political and trade union worlds, academics and scholars.
Crouch's book, which is fully part of this debate, not only offers a precise picture of the current situation of the labor markets, but takes a position by proposing appropriate changes with a view to social equity, according to the author, often strongly compromised on the side of the weakest.
The system of the book allows you to turn on the beacons of attention and reflection gradually on the growth of precarious work in the contemporary world, on the ambiguities of the employment contract starting from the basic asymmetry between the two contracting parties, on the initially increasing trend and then increasingly sharp decrease of forms of permanent employment.
After an evaluation, both of some measures implemented to support work, and of the new types of rights that are developing on the part of workers, but which in fact do not reduce the asymmetry referred to earlier, Crouch is dedicated to examining the different forms of precariat which are outside the standard working model.
In the final chapter, having analyzed the main results of two important Reports on the world of work in this century, on its transformations and on the impact of technology - the Supiot Report of 2001 and the more recent Taylor Report of 2016, the author criticizes the thesis neoliberalist who sees in these new forms an overcoming of precarious work in its classical meaning, to then dwell on theflexicurity experiment. A coordinated bargaining model tested in Denmark which, on the one hand, is an essential reference model for reflections on the innovative aspects of the labor market; on the other hand, it is noted for its overt discrepancy with the labor policies adopted even recently within the EU and which follow patterns of an absolutely traditional type.
From the path of reflections carried out in this book, the real challenge of recent years for public policies clearly emerges: reduce the basic asymmetry of the employment contract to improve the quality of life of employees, without, however, harming the organizational efficiency of companies.
A challenge, which for the author can reasonably be overcome, if one looks at those concrete cases that have already occurred, in which the reduced contractual asymmetry was matched by a significant improvement in the efficiency of the economic system as a whole, in contexts characterized by high employment standards and satisfactory levels of protection of workers' rights.
